A New Tazewell man indicted in January for aggravated child abuse pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Claiborne County Criminal Court Monday.
Billy Wayne Daniels, 33, was arrested and jailed in November 2015 after being accused of abusing a 3-year-old female child in his care.
He was indicted for one count of aggravated abuse and neglect of a child under the age of eight years during an incident allegedly occurring on Nov. 16.
He was sentenced in Criminal Court April 4, where he pleaded guilty to the charge, a class A felony. He was sentenced to serve 16 years at 100 percent, with credit of 137 days for time served since Nov. 19.
The sentence will run consecutive with another case Daniels is serving time for, to give him an effective 22-year sentence according to the court document.
The original report states that at the request of the Eighth Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the CCSO was asked to investigate an alleged child abuse case. Det. Tammy Reagan, Det. Gary Ruskowski and Det. Anthony Veillon investigated the situation, according to the report. They spoke with a representative from the Department of Children’s Services and went to the home where the alleged abuse occurred.
“Detectives then gathered evidence and spoke with Billy Daniels,” the report states, continuing, “Daniels lives in the home with the victim and is the caretaker for the victim and her two sisters.”
Daniels was taken to the Claiborne County Justice Center where he was interviewed by Ruskowski and Veillon.
“In this interview Daniels admitted to striking the victim out of anger,” the report states.
Reagan and the DCS representative went to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville to visit with the victim and collected more evidence.
“After all evidence was collected and the interview of Daniels was documented, Daniels was charged for the assault of the 3-year-old victim,” the report states.
Daniels was represented in the case by attorney Robert Scott, a public defender.
Reach Marisa Anders at 423-254-5588 or on Twitter @newsgirl88.
